Solitude..............

Now that is cool as hell! As you have heard me talk about, one of the things I would really like to do is take a bike tour. That's why I have been taking my time building up my Rocky Mountain bicycle. The same one I have been taking to the store.

I think it would be cool as hell to take a trip and have several days to just ride a bike and not have a "plan".

Just take my time and roll down the road, stop when you want and eat when and where you want! I have a good start on equipment already, and for Christmas Karen got me a thermarest, stove and fuel!

I need a front rack and bigger bags. I have my eyes on the Ortlieb panniers, they are supposed to be the best you can get! That's right "nothing but the best for me!" First class all the way! When the weather gets a little better I plan on doing my first short tour!!

OK, back to the picture! I found this on one of the blogs on http://www.crazyguyonabike.com/ . A guy went to this cabin in the Rockies.

His friend, with the help of friends. Carried all the stuff needed to build this all the way to this site BY HAND.. It has heat but no power....

How cool is that!! I would love to spend the weekend up in the woods in my own private cabin! Thought I would share this with you!!!! Point is everybody needs a little down time once in awhile, reminds me of our Outer Banks trip last spring.........

Time To Go ................

For the last 2 nights I have been cleaning my garage. It's gotten to the point I can't even work on anything because of all the crap just laying around and in the way. If I have a 10 minute job to do it will take a half an hour just ta make space to do it!

That's a pain in the ass!

So my rule has been "if I haven't used it in the last year it's time to go". I have brought 2 loads to work already this week! Nothing worth a damn, but stuff I have accumulated. Tonight it continues, I already have a pile of stuff sitting at the door ready for the dump!

I hope they come and dump our dumpster today, I have it topped off now!

As far as bikes go, they have to go too! I have about 4 older bikes I have had around for years and haven't done anything with them yet. Truth is I probably never will do anything with them!

I called the bike shop in Statesville, "First Flight" they have a museum of classic bicycles. Guess what my junk is just junk! They are "nice older bikes", ready for this "but" no value. Figures!!!!!

What do you do with "nice older bikes"....Well they would service them and give them to the needy if I want to take them to Statesville. That's a good thing, but that's a long way from my house!



Steve's new ride




needy college boys new bike



So I found one "needy" college student, he gets the first bike to go. Now I "need" 2 more "needy" people and I will be rid of 4 worthless classic bikes...

My buddy Steve is getting the road bike, I was gonna sell it to him, but now I am just gonna give it to him so I can get rid of it!!!!       Time To Go.....................

Almost Forgot !!!!!!!!!!

We have been busy today here at work, and I almost forgot to write a post! As I said yesterday I would post pictures today. So, hear ya go! Christmas at the Markland family house!

At grandma's Christmas Eve

the wife with her new Nook

the tree with a cat

sunset at the house

Cody and Emma before church dinner for the kids

Believe me, I have about 70 more pictures of everything! I just didn't want to bore you with them. Every house has the same mess mine ended up with! We are still digging out....Merry Christmas....

I Can't Eat Anymore!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Food, food, food everywhere!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Everywhere we went tables full of food! So what did I do? I ate and ate and ate!! To the point I swear, yesterday if I even saw food I had to turn my head! We ate at my mom's her mom's and our house. If I don't see ham until Thanksgiving I might be ready for it.

We had a great holiday! Got to see the family and little Wriston! He is a blast and keeps things lively when he is around. He had Chase to play with on Christmas day and they were wide open! The kids got about everything they were hoping for and I got Karen her Nook! She was really wanting one and I got it. On top of that she wanted  the new Twilight movie, New Moon. I found that with a bonus video of the location the series is based on. I am looking forward to seeing that.

Yes I took a bunch of pictures, then left my camera at home this morning. Tomorrow I might just post pictures for a blog post. As I said we had a good holiday!!

I did get a few rides in, Christmas Eve I went to Beatty park and got 2 laps in. The conditions weren't the best but it was nice to be out. Of course Christmas day was full so I waited till Monday and hit Poplar Tent. Once again the conditions where pretty bad at the start but once you got back in the woods it was really pretty good!

It was kinda weird, I saw about 10 cars in the parking lot and didn't see a single person in the woods! Where they were hiding, I have no clue!

Update: Yes, I have the Cannondale back on the trail! By no means has Cannondale made this an easy process. I don't really recall mentioning the problems I have had but too bring you up to speed.. I tore the derailleur hanger off the other week and nobody seems to have a replacement for it! Yes it is a brand new bike, 2012 model! You call Cannondale and they say; yea we have them on order. They will be here in March!!! March!!!

A brand new bicycle with a crappy design and they expect me to wait till March! What kinda company service is that! I never had problems like this with Specialized......

So after getting in 3 different hangers from aftermarket company's, none of them worked! I finally got the Dremel tool out and modified one of them to make it work! After getting it on the bike and readjusting the derailleur guess what! It works better than it ever has! The shifting is the best it's been yet!!

Thanks for NOTHING Cannonfail......................

Ho, Ho, Ho,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,

Merry Christmas!!!! I love Christmas, I am like a little kid when it comes down to it! It kinda dawned on me last night!

It's finally here, I wait all year for this and I am a grown adult! All the gifts are bought and the family is coming! Good food, good times, the kids get to open all their gifts and Santa will be stopping by!

It's Christmas!!!!!!!! Believe me, I will wake up before the kids on Sunday. I always wake up first! I get a kick out of being their when they come down the stairs!

Don't forget, my favorite movie will be on TV all day!!!!! Christmas Story... The worlds greatest movie..

Merry Christmas everybody, hope you and your family have a great time and I will see ya next week....Ho,Ho,Ho.......................

Bored......................

Yep, the rain has been around just long enough to make me bored as hell! The kids, same situation! Cody said he would just as soon be in school than to sit around all day. He has found a few things to do and has plans today but overall he would rather take just a few days off!

Chase, he has his video games; XBOX live. So he has a hobby. I guess that's the difference in an 11 year old and a 16 year old. Tomorrow i will only work half a day and Karen will be at work all day. then we will both be home Monday.

I still need to go shopping, so Friday afternoon I will have the kids out and about for awhile that will help make them happier. Saturday will be Christmas eve so they will be excited, then of course Sunday is Christmas! Kids love that!

Our plans are the usual, Christmas eve my moms, Christmas day with her family. It seems to work so no need to rock the boat!

I must be bored, I am sitting here telling you all about my plans for the holiday's. And the best part is I know you really don't care.....

This is what happens when I am stuck in the house for an extended period of time. I get bored and have nothing to write about! Do you really want to know what I watched on TV last night...I need to stop writing now before I run all 5 of my readers off...............................

Tonight I will at least go plan in the street,,,,wish me luck....................

Are You Getting Ready Yet ????????????

Yep, Christmas is here and I know everybody has been getting ready. But that ain't what I am talking about! It's time to start building the doomsday shelter! My business should pickup this year. So if it's true I will at least have a pocket full of money.

What am I talking about you ask? The end of time! Yep we are finally on the last year of time according to the Mayan calender! 12-21-12 is the big day. Start getting ready!

Full disclaimer: The author of this post is full of s... , nothing in this blog is of real relevance to what happens in the rest of the world. The only world that matters is mine (the author) and the rest of the happenings are just that. For what it's worth. If you go sell all your worthless belongings and the world dose not end, tough shit!!!!

Now since I have the disclaimer out of the way back to my story. (Fiction that is!) If you believe the hype we are going to have a meteor, earthquake or my favorite.

like flat tire!!!!

The once in a billion years line up of the planets. Worst case scenario a big hole will blow through the middle of the planet and we lose gravity and all us float of into space! Like a flat tire!

Then we have the polar swap theory. The earth is going to flip and all the magnetic fields will be all screwed up! Then nothing will work; no power, water, gas. Planes won't be able to fly, the whole collapse of society! Can't wait for that to happen! 

Hope I haven't ruined your day..........LOL..................

Day 2 Of Testing...................

I got dropped!!! LOL Like a bad habit!!! That's what I get for riding with the fast kids. Sunday came and I picked up Charles and headed to Sherman Branch. We got there and ran into Chris W, I knew then I was screwed!

So there I am pedaling along and trying to act like I had it under control. Behind me Charles and Chris are riding along talking and laughing like we are on a Sunday social! Oh, wait we "where" on a Sunday social! To be honest they weren't killing me so it was fun. But anyhow, the second lap was the same pace I just ran out of gas. I cut the course here and there to stay with them but I still ended up being dropped!

I am a big boy it didn't hurt my feeling to bad! Actually it was kinda fun pushing myself that hard. I have been on a different training schedule, one that does not require me to kill myself on every ride. I am shooting for more of an endurance pace than I am a race pace.

Now back to the bike! If I could round up the coins I would have one tomorrow! This thing is the bomb, it rolls everything so fast and smooth, stuff I would normally stand up to get over I can remain seated on. The 2x10 gearing is perfect. It seems like you are always in the right gear, if your not all it takes is a quick hit of the shifter and you are good to go! Bottom line, the XTR shifters are sweet.

So that's about it for the Felt Edic pro test. Now it's back on the Specialized Epic.. At least I ain't slumming.. 





Testing Again.................

So I bought the Cannondale and have been trying to ride it and make it work. Well it just ain't happening I have tried and Charles has tried to make it go, I am not quite sure what the problem is . I love the fork and overall it's a fun bike to ride, it just doesn't like to go fast.



So it's gonna be sold and replaced! With what you ask? How about a Felt 26in Edic Pro! Oh yea, Bicycles East let me take one home for the weekend and I have been testing it! So far, all is well! This thing is fast and I swear it rides better than any full squish I have ever ridin!

 

Uhwarrie in winter mode

You can really haul ass on this thing. Saturday I took it to Uhwarrie and rode 2 laps. By the way all you fair weather riders who sat home all day because it was to wet! Your loss, Uhwarrie was perfect. Back to the bike. At first I thought it was to soft but that's because I have been riding the hard tail so much lately. The Fox float fork and rear shock work perfect together.

The rear end was rolling over stuff without a complaint and you can get so aggressive with the front end I swear it feels like I am riding my RM 250! It has a "tapered control" head tube (never heard of before) and I don't even know what that is supposed to do but I like the front end! When you are centered on the bike and just kinda bounce the bike, both ends react in perfect unison. I know that means the shocks are set up the same, but you don't get that very often on a bike.

That was day 1 with the bike. Day 2 will start shortly!

It's Friday,,,,It's Friday,,,,,,,,,,,,,

We all know what I say! It's Friday!!!!!! I work all week just for this day, 2 days of play! It seems as though we are getting screwed if you ask me. We work for 5 days and then end up with 2 days off. Seems like we should get 3 days for every 5 days.

Oh well, might as well enjoy what we have. Saturday the whole crowd is coming. Me, Kelly, Scott, Dane, and Charles. This ought to be fun! I haven't ridin with all of them in a while. Looks like we will only have time for 1 lap, but at least we get one. Charles has a funeral to make so we gonna keep it short.

I think I am gonna come home and ride the road bike afterword. I need to get in some more miles. Then Sunday I am heading to SC. I am gonna put in a long ride! By long I mean about 75 miles. The plan is to park at Rocky River School (south of Monroe) and head down to Mcbee and back. It ought to be a good ride.

Besides that, it will probably be a slow weekend. Karen is home sick today and the kids get out of school for the next 2 weeks. They will be wound up today but back to normal by tomorrow.

Stick with me, I will get pictures this weekend! I know I have been slack about picyures this week.....

Yes Dear!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Some days, just don't go as planned! I actually got home early yesterday and thought I was gonna get out and head to the trail earlier than I had planned! FAIL...

It was not to be! Of course the wife had a few things she needed to get from town and asked if I would go with her. I bit my tongue and said "yes dear" I will be glad to go with you! Glad not really, mad not really. But that was the beginning of the end for my planned night in the woods!

So after out trip to the big little city of Monroe we headed home. Chase had a project due and she was helping him. So there I was, Cody still needed picked up from therapy and she was working on a project with Chase. Dilemma, dilemma!!!

Pick your battles!! That was one of the life lessons I learned a long time ago! I had nobody meeting me and it wasn't gonna be the end of the world so I went and got Cody and came home and did a little laundry. She is a little under the weather so I fixed the kids dinner and just made myself useful.

I swear, I must be the best husband ever!!!!!!!    Hey it's my blog so I can tell the story anyway I want!!!!

Stanley...The Turkey......

I haven't put any pictures on here lately of our pet turkey, actually I haven't taken any pictures of him lately. But last night I got home and Karen had him out of the pen. She was feeding him and the chickens. We can let him out and he will follow you all over the yard. If you let the chickens out your screwed! They take forever to catch!

Old Stanley, he is like a dog. He stays right there with you! Everybody needs a pet turkey, look how big he is now! When you let him out he walks around all blowin up. Like he's trying to be the man! He just started doing that.

He likes to be petted, and he could care less about the dog! Believe it or not, the outside cat is scared to death of him. When Stanley comes out the cat will run and hide! Maybe next year the kids will let me cook him for Thanksgiving.....NOT.........

Let's Back Up A Minute.......................

Yesterday I rambled on, and covered about everything I did ride wise over the weekend. Ride wise yes, otherwise no! So let's start at the top.

goldsene.......

It's finally winter (I guess) so I came home with a 5 gallon can of the red fuel we all call kerosene. You can call it that, I am going to call it "goldsene"! At $3.99 a gallon what else would you call it! The downside of having a detached garage is I have to heat it separate! I can either shiver and drink a lot of beer or be warm and drink less beer.

According to the wife, the heat money has to come out of my beer budget. Damn, it!

So Friday night I came home with a project! New tires and a Stan's kit. If you never heard of Stan he makes a conversion kit for bike tires. Anybody with a little beer and a heated garage can turn their bike tires into tubeless tires with very little effort, and a little bit of beer!

Read closely, it says "Virtually Eliminates Flats".. Considering I have had 5 flats already on the 29er I figured I might as well be like everybody else and ride without "tubes".. Now I am like all the other cool kids at the local park!!

I always used tubes, so this will be a new chapter in my ride life. Yes you can tell a difference, and I could compare it to a few things in life, but considering I try to keep this blog "G rated" I will leave it at that! Let's just say it makes things more sensitive. You have a better feel for the trail.

So after taking everything apart and putting the liquid in the tires we were in business! It took longer to drink the beer than it did to do the work. But as you can see, I now have new Kenda Slant Six tires set up with the Stan's tubeless tire conversion kit! I am badass!!!!!

Monday Blues...................................

I don't know if I over did it, or I am coming down with the crud.. I guess in the next day or two I will find out! The odds aren't looking great at this point, considering both kids are home with sore throats. Plus the fact that I had to take Cody to the doctor's yesterday. He has been running a fever and as I said his throat is sore... Not a good way to start the week....

So, now for the weekend! My buddy Charles sold his bike the other day and has his eye on a Cannondale just like mine, well sorta he wants the carbon version. When he found out I had one now, he asked if he could ride it. Of course I said yes! You see I still ain't sure if I like this bike yet. All I have heard is that 29er's are faster and blah,blah,blah! So I have been wondering if it's just me!

So I welcomed the chance to let someone else ride it, especially someone who has been riding 29er's for a while now! Plus the fact that he is faster than I am! Guess what, he wasn't sure about it either. I rode my 26in Specialized Epic full squish. I haven't ridin this bike in over a month and it felt smaller right outta gate. Besides that it felt like I had 2 flat tires, because of the full squish!

Those things aside I was smokin! For awhile there it was all Charles could do to keep up with me! Then I flamed out! My back hurts on the smaller bike and it didn't take long before it was doing it's thing! So I let Charles have the point and I still stayed right on his ass!

So what does that tell me! I am beginning to think it might be the bike! Charles feels he can get up to speed on it, but it will take a little while to adjust. He loved the Lefty front fork, but not so sure about the wheel base. Said it felt shorter to him and that might be what he would have to get used to...

With all that said, I went by myself Sunday afternoon and rode for 3 hours! The plan was to ride for 4 hours but I managed to rip the rear derailleur off! So now it's back to the bike shop! Yes, I rode the 29er. I was riding with the intentions of hours not speed and had a good pace going even though I was there for the afternoon. Not just one lap.........

So if I don't get the crud, I will be out tomorrow night for a long late night ride..... On the 26....

Anybody want to buy a bike..........LOL.....

Time To See......

This weekend it's time to see! See how far I have to go to get where I want to be! Where do I want to be you ask? I want to be in a condition (shape) that will carry me 310 miles in April!

This weekend is going to be the start of the finding out process, stay tuned for the results! It looks as though the weather is going to cooperate, if you consider cold as hell and clear cooperating. I am planning on a long day tomorrow and a short day Sunday. Or maybe 2 long days, it just depends.

I am approaching this with no ideal of how to approach this. I know I need to be able to spend extended hours on the seat and need to have at least a 10 mile an hour average! Beyond that, I am reading a book about training!

Simple math tells me 2 things: 1st If I only average 10 miles an hour and have 310 miles to go, I will only have 5 hours to eat sleep whatever! 2nd If I average 12 miles an hour I will have a 10 hour window!!!
                                                
                                                                  

I need to average 12mph, I know that much! Sounds easy huh.... I know that's what your thinking, but if it was that easy more than 57 people would have finished within the time limit!

My goal for tomorrow: 6 hours on the bike and 14mph average! That will be an 84 mile day. Sunday I am heading to the woods......Have a nice weekend............................

Smackdown.............

Yep, that's what I got last night. As I said yesterday, I plan on riding my bike to the store any time I need anything around the house. Which is about every night! Yes it was raining when I got home, but that stopped shortly after.

Of course next thing you know we are out of coke (I hate Pepsi) so it was time to test my new commitment! Only problem: the wind was blowing at hurricane force! Now what? I have 2 perfectly nice trucks and a van sitting right there with gas and keys! 

Time for the commitment test! Yep, I got on the bike and hit the road! Now remember it's only a 4 mile round trip, and it's on a back road to get there. So It's not like going all the way to town!

no. I had no tail wind!!!!!!!

BUT!!! Damn the wind was kickin' I felt like I rode 10 miles. LOL.... Oh well You have to be tough if you want to get stronger!!!!!! It blew me from one side of the road to the other.....

Training and a Rip off.......................

Let's cover the rip off first! Saturday was my mom's birthday, so we all loaded up and went to see the Christmas lights at Charlotte Motor Speedway! First of all, I don't know how many people can remember the Heritage USA Christmas lights from the early 90's. That was a light show and free!!!!!! We also have McAdenville right down below Charlotte. BUT we decided to try out the lights at Charlotte Motor Speedway, we got screwed!!!!!

Now I know Nascar has had low attendance this year, and poor old Kurt Busch is out of a job. But damn 20 bucks for that crap! We got screwed! And sat in line for ever just to see it! I will never do that again, and if you read this and haven't been! DON'T WASTE YOUR MONEY......Just because Concord will kiss Bruton Smith's ass and give him anything he wants don't mean I will help him anymore.

in line...pay up sucker....

yea, I couldn't work the camera....

Go to McAdenville,,,it's free!!! A lot better also.. We are going there this week that way we can say we got to see lights! Right now all I can say is I paid 20 to ride around the speedway at 5mph in the dark! WooHoo..........

Now for training! Since I have a goal and I really want to do as good as I possibly can, I need all the miles I can get. I bought this bike a year or two ago and plan on using it for touring. No, I haven't done much with it, besides go to the beer store and back. But I have it! So now my goal is if I need anything when I get home, no car! I can ride to Wal-mart and about everything in Monroe so this is now my new transportation! I put a tail light on it last night and hooked up the head light.

lights baby!!!!!!

flat pedals and all.......

Yep, you guessed it! I had to try it out so I went to the beer store!!!!! I did get bread and a coke though!! That way I justified the trip, it was for the family! Now I am looking at one of those X-tracycle long bike kits, the ones where you would be able to haul 6 bags of groceries on......

the kit

the conversion

Oh Shit!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

What the hell am I thinking? Since Saturday, when I found out I made the field, everybody from my wife to all my co-workers are saying the same thing..

                       WHAT THE HELL AM I THINKING!!!!!!!

So far my response has been to laugh!!! Honestly, I am surprised by the reaction I am getting from everybody. My wife, she has been around long enough she comes to expect things like this! As far as everybody else????

                                    I am surprised!

You only get one shot at this little life you have, are you not going to try things that will make it unforgettable! When I look "back", and think about 2012. I will SMILE, and think about a road trip my son and I took in the spring of that year! I will think about all the people I met and friendships I made!

Is it going to be tough? Uhh, yea, I have a lot of training ahead of me and even then I don't know if I can finish in the allotted time! They have only had 57 people out of 700 previous attempts who made the time cut-off! Odds, yea they suck!

Ten years from now do you think I will dwell on the fact of "where" or "when" or "if" I finished. Hell no!! I will be talking about a great time I had and how much fun that was!!!!

To top it off, my kid will never forget how I drug him a 1000 miles away (and made him drive home)!!! He will have the time of his life!!!!!! You can see it in his face already!! Then in a few years I will come up with another adventure, I have 2 kids and Chase will be older!!!!!

         NOW YOU KNOW "WHAT THE HELL I AM THINKING"

                So, the odds: I don't think they could be any better........

It's On.................

OK, last week I made mention I was working on something big! I didn't want to talk about it because as I said : It was beyond my control! My fate rested in the hands of our trusted US mail system.

Yep, I got in! Spot number 47 has my name on it! Trans Iowa: 310 mile all gravel road, endurance race! the field is limited to 100 people and the only way to enter is by mail. Registration opened on Dec 2nd and I timed it just right! I mailed my post card last Tuesday with the assumption it would take 3 days to get there. I was right!

A quick break down of the event: It starts at 4am on Saturday the 28th and the official cut off time is 2pm on Sunday. Yep, you have 36 hours to complete the race. At the start they give you a cue sheet with the directions to a checkpoint 50 miles out. You have 5 hours to make it. Then they give you a cue sheet for a check point a 100 miles out, you have 12 hours to make it. Once you make the 150 mile check point you get a cue sheet to take you the rest of the way. Somewhere in the last 160 miles you will have a suprise check point. That keeps you honest!

nope! Iowa ain't flat my friends!!!!!!!!

So in a 36 hour period you have to pedal 310 miles, eat and sleep! No pressure, none at all... The kicker, it's a totally self supported race! No GPS units allowed either! You have to rely on small community stores and your own ability to navigate! Sound like fun???? 

country road! take me home!!!!

You start in Grinnell Iowa and finish in Grinnell. At the start you head to the northern part of the state and make a loop through northern Iowa back to Grinnell. If you fall out at any point in the 36 hour period it is your responsibility to get back to the start in Grinnell!!!

So my friends training has begun! I put in a total of 5 hours over the weekend and we are just getting started! From what I understand (emails from the promoter) you need to get up to the point where you can spend 10-12 hours on the bike at a time. Once you are there it's all mental!!!!!!!! WHAT THE HELL AM I THINKING....I must already be mental....

17 hour drive to Iowa 36 hour 310 mile race 17 hour drive back to Charlotte all in the span of 5 days!!!!! You only live once.....

One last figure from this race: The race is 7 years old and out of 7 years and 700 people who have tried it, only 57 have finished within the 36 hour time limit!!!!!!!!!  

December...........................

Yes, I know I should have done this post yesterday since that was the first day of December. But I let it come and go, then it hit me this morning, Christmas is coming! I love Christmas! If it ain't your favorite time of the year you must be  a scrooge!!!! We have the change in the weather, it finally gets cold and the light's come out!!

That's my favorite part! Christmas is the only time of the year when you can make a tacky ass mess out of your yard and house and nobody cares! Any other time of the year your home owner association would be on your ass!

Even the bike shop gets into the spirit! I took this shot last year but they have done the same thing again this year. You have to turn your head when you see a giant bicycle all lit up!

not my house!

I used to do my house back when you could see it from the road, now you can't see me from the road so what's the point! All you can see from the road now is the woods! I thought about putting lights on the trees out by the road, but I don't have enough cords to get all the way out there. So no lights...Bah hum bug.....

Oh yea, I spend the whole month waiting on my favorite TV show of the year!!! "Christmas Story" it will be on all day Christmas day...................I love that show, It makes me laugh all day!! This will make like the 200th time I have seen it............... 

greatest movie ever!!!!!!

my favorite scene

ralphie all grown up..................

Bike Mechanic!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

You know most people think a bike mechanic is just some guy who changes tires and adjusts brakes! My kid wants to be a "bike mechanic". I say go for it! His mom says no way, he is going to college! She thinks bike mechanic's change tires!

I say if he wants to go to school for this and learn, why not? He would have a job the rest of his life! A low stress job and an enjoyable job! Yes, I want him to go to school, but sometimes you can just tell. Cody is really laid back and I can see him taking some time between college and high school. If that would be the case why not let him go on to bike school and at least stay busy learning something!

Besides does this hub look very easy to rebuild? I put these pictures in here to give you a new perspective of how complicated bicycles really are. Believe me most bike shops won't even work on the $100 dollar specials from Wal-Mart! Those are considered throw away bikes! If they last a year you got the good out of them.

How about this hub? It's an internal 3-speed hub. I don't know about you but I think I would want a bike mechanic from a bike mechanic school to work on this if it needed to be worked on! If Cody wants to learn how to repair things like this then so be it. It ain't rocket science but it ain't far from it. Especially when you get into the high dollar bikes. Most people don't realize there are bikes out there that sell for 10grand!

So why not , he could learn to be a bike mechanic and then go to school and work in a bike shop! I think we need to checkout the "park tool bike school"...................

Burrrrrrrrrr................

The weather spoiled us over the holidays that's for sure! We had one really cold morning the day of Thanksgiving but beyond that it has been great! We'll that all changed! The rain came and with it came a cold front. Now it's cold....

Time to bundle up and tough it out! After getting in 4 full days of riding I have taken 2 days off. So tonight I am going to get back out. All I have done for the last 3 weeks is ride the mountain bike so tonight I am going to get the road bike back in action! As I write this I have the lights charging and when the sun goes down I am gonna hit the road for a night road ride.

I already rounded up all my cold-cold riding gear so I it's time to get tough! Be a man! Blah!Blah!Blah!!!!! Stay tuned for a full report tomorrow!

On to other things, I forgot my camera today and I really had a few good shots for this post too..
First was big pill of riding clothes: I knew everybody would get a kick out of a pill of clothes! Second: it was a shot of my kids new LETTER... Letter you say, yes a letter! Cody got his letter for his letter jacket! To a kid this is a very big deal!

his school is light blue and white colors

Being my kid he took his girlfriend with him to the banquet. He was the only one there with his girlfriend! Hell I think he is the only one on the team who isn't scared of girls! I bet I know who will be wearing this jacket before it's over!!!!!!!!!!!

On a roll..................

Until now! I was on a roll, I pulled the unheard of 4 straight days of riding, that never happens! With a wife and 2 kids it ain't very often I can get out of the house to ride that many times. But with the holiday and being of work I managed to make it happen! Then what happens, it starts to rain!

I had my rest day yesterday and was really planning to hit the road tonight. I thought the rain was going to be gone by now, it ain't! We are supposed to have a storm roll through here around 12 noon. That's what they are calling for anyway, so that means it will hit this evening. Besides that the soccer banquet was changed up for tonight instead of last night so BAM! I am screwed again!

I have a master plan I am working on! I don't want to spill the beans just yet, a lot depends on things I have no control over. Luck! I might be lucky I might not! But I have a plan! Hence the reason I am trying to step up the riding so early in the year.

If it I am "lucky" I will be traveling a thousand miles from here for a race most people would never even consider doing. That my friends is all I can share right now, except for these pictures! I would be seeing a lot of this if if I am "lucky".....................

2-Wheels And A Turkey.................

I love 4-day weekends! Especially when it's a holiday. Yes, Fred's dead! He was great turkey and he performed well, we were proud of him! He came out nice and juicy and was ready when everyone got there. We had the house full of people and the kids played hard. Little Wriston, my chicken farming nephew had a ball playing with Chase, and Cody. So I guess you could call it a success!!!

I rode everyday and ran myself in the ground! That was my plan so I guess I can call that a success! I rode Uhwarrie twice and Sherman branch twice. Thursday I rode with Glen and Alex first thing in the morning! When I say first thing I am talking we meet at 8am over there! If you know me, you know that just don't happen very often! But it being Thanksgiving day I had no choice if I wanted to ride.

man down!!!!!!

I was glad I went because Glen pulled a classic! He did the old "stop and can't clip out of his shoes" trick! What made it so funny was where he decided to do it at. Right on the side of a hill and fell down the low side! After we found out he was alright we laughed like hell! I haven't laughed that hard in a long time, he ended up about ten feet down the hill side!

all the leaves are down now!!

So overall I had a good holiday, got to see some family I haven't seen in awhile and had good food. Even went to a movie with the wife. Oh yea, even got in a little shopping!! I hate shopping!!!!!!!

His Name Is Fred.........................

World meet Fred! Fred meet world! Every year, much to the dismay of my family, I name our turkey! This year his name is Fred, he came from the Butterball Family! They seem to be nice parents, every year they raise their young to be about 13-14 pounds and then send them out to meet the world!

Fred

We found him hanging out in the big play pen (freezer) at the local Wal-Mart. He and all his brothers and sisters where just hanging out waiting to be adopted. I was looking for the big fat one with low self esteem but they all seemed to be about the same size! So I based it on the location in the playpen. He was hanging around in the bottom and looked like he really wanted to get out so I dug deep and brought him to the top!

Fred on a plate

His first stage in life will be the oven and then the plate. Once he makes the plate I will introduce him to all the family, they are all really excited to meet him! We got people coming from 4-5 hours away just to meet Fred so we will make sure he is dressed to impress!!! After everybody enjoys the afternoon hanging out with Fred we will pack him up and he will be ready for the final act in his career!!!

Fred on bread

That's right he will make a guest appearance as a turkey sandwich for lunch the following day! His final act will be Fred on bread! Then his career as the family turkey will come to an end!

Next year we will visit the Butterball playpen and see how they do with the next generation of little fat kids! Then we can do the process all over again, I love turkey day!!! I get to go ride in the AM and drink plenty of beer in the PM with a bunch of food and football thrown in.......PBR baby..............Happy Thanksgiving....